TMB to Resume Death Registration Fines

On June 1, the Texas Medical Board (TMB) will resume disciplining physicians who do not use the Texas Electronic Registrar (TER) Death Registration system to register patient deaths, TMB Executive Director Mari Robinson, JD, told the TMA Patient-Physician Advocacy Committee at TexMed 2011. The fine is $500.

Last November, TMB refunded money to more than 100 physicians who had already been fined and suspended pending cases because of physicians' complaints about the registration system. TMB said the delay in disciplining physicians would last until the 2011 session of the Texas Legislature ends this month.

If you haven't registered and aren't using the system, now is a good time to do so. Here's what TMB said in theJanuary TMB Bulletin: "It's important to note that electronic death certification is here to stay. The health department adopted this system because it is faster for all parties involved, and it's less susceptible to fraud than paper."

Comment on this (Must be logged in to comment)

Add Comment

Text Only 2000 character limit

I first register in july of 2009, re registered in Nov 2010, contacted TMA, and the TMB in 2/2011 due to continued poor function of this site and lack of secure contact. This site continues to have broken links, inaccurate prompting and when adding members of our practice adds me over and over. The help desk has been both helpful and surly when i have contacted them. We can turn around an accurate, legible death certificate in 48 hours out of our office. Now, they will tell you it is "ok" for it to be 2 weeks to come into the system, then 10 days to notify your NOT SECURE email about the patient name in queue.We have been on EMR since 2006 and would love an online registry, however this situation is a complete joke. The idea the individual physician who can't cope with the man hours to get this to work is shameful. I have tried to contact the TMB directory but have been unable to reach anyone during business hours. I don't believe any on them have tried to complete the training then set up on their own. TMA needs to advocate more aggressively on this issue.... an inconvenience to us, but more importantly a substantial delay to grieving families.